by Adam Rabinowitz
Girls’ volleyball performing well has been a trend at this school for the past few years, and this year has been no exception.
The Tigers beat Needham 3-0 at home Tuesday and Brookline 3-1 at home Thursday, improving to 18-2 and advancing to the Central-East Division 1 Sectional Finals, according to senior Sophie Tavolieri, a captain with the rest of the team’s seniors.
According to senior Andie Buenaventura, it was a really high energy game because there was a large fan presence from both teams.
Tavolieri added that the Tigers started off the game strong with lots of energy and motivation, but got a little rocky during the second set until a key timeout was called when the set was close.
“After that timeout, we put the pedal to the metal and won that set with aggression and commitment. During the huddle for the timeout, we talked about how we really need to want to win and keep the energy we had from set one and lay it out on the second set,” she said.
The Tigers ended up winning the second set, but lost the third due to various errors. In the fourth set however, Tavolieri said that the Tigers “really showed how much [they] wanted it,” getting a “strong lead (10-1) with our serving from freshman Ashley Wang and sophomore Anna Zucchero.”
With the victory, the Tigers advanced to play Quincy today at Algonquin Regional High School.
Although the Tigers do not know much about Quincy, Buenaventura is confident that the Tigers can come out with another victory.
“We know that Quincy and King Phillip went to five sets [last night] so they’ll definitely put up a fight, but I think we have a good chance of winning,” she said.
Buenaventura also added that the team will be working on serving to prepare for Quincy because the Tigers “ended up missing a lot of our serves tonight which are really key in tough games.”
Tavolieri added that the team’s main focus in practice will be “ making sure we can serve tough and in under pressure and in crucial situations.”